Betty Allen v. R.J. Reynolds (Tampa, Florida)

Hon. Judge Sam Pendino declared a mistrial today in the Betty Allen v. R.J. Reynolds tobacco trial after the jury deadlocked in their second day of deliberations on the issue of addiction.

During the first day’s deliberation the jury asked for a definition of “addiction.”  During the second day’s deliberation the jury asked how to proceed if a jury member did not believe in addiction, and thought that addiction to cigarettes was impossible? Judge Sam Pendino concluded that the jury would not be able to reach a verdict and declared a mistrial.

CVN webcast the Betty Allen tobacco trial live.

Betty Allen v. R.J. Reynolds (Tampa, Florida)

In his closing argument, Brian Denny of Searcy Denny told the jury, “There’s no question that Herman Allen was a stand-up guy, there’s no question that he was strong willed, there’s no question that he was a hard worker, but that doesn’t mean that he was immune to the addictive power of nicotine.”

As to whether smoking cigarettes manufactured by defendants was a legal cause of Mr. Allen’s death, Mr. Denny flatly told the jury, “The evidence in the case is overwhelming to support that.”

In urging the jury to find punitive damages, Mr. Denny stated, “We’ve talked about the scales of justice, and I’m sure you all have seen a picture of lady justice – she’s got a blindfold on, she’s holding the scales, and in her other hand she has a sword…the sword is to punish, the sword is for defendants like this and when they get up here making all the excuses for all of this bad behavior… just ask yourself, what kind of world we would live in if we let them get away with that.”

Representing R.J. Reynolds was Geoffrey Beach of Jones Day, who told the jury that nicotine was not the legal cause of Mr. Allen’s cancer.  “There are 2 reasons why addiction was not the legal cause of Mr. Allen’s cancer. First, he could quit. We know that addiction didn’t trump his ability to quit. He did in 1970 and he did in 1994. Second of all, the other times, he wasn’t interested in quitting. He didn’t try to quit…Mr. Allen was always in control of his fate…”

Mr. Beach also indicated that the location and type of lung cancer Mr. Allen suffered from was evidence that it was caused by asbestos, not nicotine.

On behalf of Phillip Morris, Annie Chuang of Shook, Hardy & Bacon told the jury, “Because Mr. Allen was in control of his smoking, because he knew the dangers and risks of smoking and chose to smoke despite knowing those risks, and because he could quit and it was demonstrated he did quit, we submit that the only fair and just verdict in this case is a verdict for Phillip Morris U.S.A. and R.J Reynolds Tobacco Company.”

In his rebuttal argument, Hardee Bass of Searcy Denny hammered the point of Mr. Allen’s addiction: “There’s no definition of addiction — none — that includes within it that someone is not addicted if they’re able to quit. Let’s not confuse ability to quit, motivation to quit, the fact that Mr. Allen quit and relapsed, the fact that when his granddaughter…asked him to quit he hung his head in shame…”  

Mr. Bass concluded with, “The damages we suggested to you are reasonable for what this woman lost, Herman Allen relied to his detriment on the omissions and concealments of these defendants, and if ever there was a case where punitive damages were warranted, it’s this case here.”

CVN is webcasting Betty Allen v. R.J. Reynolds live.

Betty Allen v. R.J. Reynolds (Tampa, Florida)

Betty Allen brought this suit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Phillip Morris for the death of her husband in 1994 at the age of 64.  Herman Allen began smoking cigarettes as a teenager in the mid-1940s and continued to smoke until months before his death from small cell lung cancer.

Betty Allen alleges that defendants heavily marketed their cigarettes to teenagers so that they would get addicted to nicotine and become “customers for life.”  Herman Allen, she claims, became a customer for life at his peril.

Hardee Bass of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley told the jury, “This is a case about personal responsibility; it is a case about choices…ask yourselves about corporate responsibility, ask yourselves at every turn about the choices that the tobacco companies made…ask yourselves about the choices to meet together in 1953…ask about their choices to attack the surgeon general when the surgeon general was trying to get information out to the public.

Representing Phillip Morris, Jonathan Stern of Arnold & Porter told the jury that Herman Allen knew that smoking was dangerous.  In fact, he grew up in a household that prohibited smoking. Mr. Stern also told the jury, “The evidence in this case will show that addiction to cigarettes containing nicotine did not cause Mr. Allen’s death…Mr. Allen chose to smoke, and that choice was his choice.

Mr. Stern also indicated that asbestos, not nicotine, was the substantial contributing cause to Mr. Allen’s death.

Representing R.J. Reynolds, Geoffrey Beach of Jones Day told the jury, “Ultimately it’s a question of control. Was Mr. Allen in control?…Mr. Allen did what he wanted to do no matter what…Mr. Allen made his own decisions about how he lived his life…His choice to smoke was nonnegotiable.”

Questions the jury will have to decide are whether Herman Allen was addicted to nicotine and whether the addiction caused the disease that killed him.

CVN is webcasting the Betty Allen tobacco trial live